Diving the Graveyard of the Atlantic...

SCUBA Divers who come here from other places to dive often ask me on a
charter out to one of our wrecks, "Have you been to Mexico?" "Have you
been to Bonaire?" "Have you been to Florida?" "Have you been to the
Caribbean?"....and my answer is always the same..."Why? The wreck
diving capital of the entire world is 15 miles from my house!"

Where the cold waters of the Labrador current meet the clear warm gulf
Stream waters, lies a place called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic".
For
as long as men have sailed the seas, they have found their way to the
Barrier Islands of North Carolina. But their arrival has not
always
been a pleasant one. For many of these vessels, the hazardous
shifting
shoals, German U-boats, and just plain old sailor error have determined
their fate. Weather in the Graveyard is unpredictable and can
change in
the span of a few minutes. The shifting sand shoals
continuously move
about, providing a challenge for even the seasoned mariner.
The tragic
irony is that many of these ships who dared to take their chances close
to the shores of North Carolina now sit on the bottom of the Atlantic,
a testament to Man VS Nature. North Carolina is considered
the #1 wreck
diving site in the world by most, and our large variety of underwater
flora and fauna bathed in warm blue Gulf Stream waters rivals popular
Caribbean diving resorts. Visibility on many of these wrecks
is usually
in the 70 foot range, but days of 100+ feet of visibility is not
uncommon.

From the Northern tip of the Albemarle Sound to the Southern tip of
Cape Fear, the North Carolina coastline boasts over 2,000
shipwrecks.
Some of these are so close you can dive them by just walking out into
the water from the shore, while most require you to own a boat or take
a charter out. Our wrecks vary from 14th century pirate
ships, to World
War I and World War II casualties, to modern ships sank as artificial
reefs.

North Carolina Weather...

During the summer
months, our typical weather pattern is similar to the tropics ~ hot and
sunny in the morning with scattered showers in the evening.
Sometimes, we'll enjoy a ridge of high pressure that drops the humidity
and eliminates the chance of rain. Though rare, we may also
get a few days in a row of overcast skies and rain. When we
get hurricames, they typically occur in late September, with the threat
diminishing in mid October. These are few and far between,
and should have little impact on your diving plans. What
affects our diving most here in North Carolina is the wind.

North Carolina's coast,
similar to the entire east coast...or any coast for that
matter...has issues with wind. The magic of an island is
that, at any given point, there is always a windward side and a leeward
side. That means depending on which way the wind is blowing,
it's calm enough to be diving somewhere. That's not the case
with a coastline. In the summer, the previling winds in North
Carolina come from the southwest, offshore, so there is no protection
offered by land. So when the wind blows hard, the seas get
rough in North Carolina.

There is, however, a
difference in "wind chop"
and "swell".
Wind chop is
a sea condition categorized by lots of waves, very close together that
have, as the boat captains say, "no
back on them", meaning they are like miniature ski jumps,
where the boat goes up one side and then comes crashing straight down
the other, as opposed to a swell,
where the boat gently rides up one side of the wave and gently down the
other side. Wind chop can start and stop rather suddenly and
is, as the name implies, completely dependent on how hard the wind is
blowing. "Swell" on the other hand, refers to big, wide
rollers hat have a lot of space in between them. Swell is
often caused by offshore storms and doesn't fluctuate as quickly as
chop. So a four-foot swell
is not an issue, but a four foot chop
can be downright uncomfortable. Add the two together? Forget
about it.

So
How Rough is "Rough"?

Your perception will
vary according to where you're used to diving, but here are some "North
Carolina" guidelines: 1-2 foot seas produce calm, lake-like
conditions. 2-3 foot seas make for a pretty good day on the
water, though it is a tad bumpy. Solid 3 foot seas is doable
not miserable, whereas 4 foot seas are probably doable but
miserable. 5 foot seas are not fun at all and if you are in 5
foot seas you might be on your way back to the dock instead of on your
way to the dive site. Anything 6 foot or over, if you left
the dock at all (which is unlikely), there is little chance of getting
in the water.

On average, during the summer, 10% of all North Carolina days are
"blown out"
(not diveable). The most common condition in
North Carolina is 2-3 foot seas, which compromise about 50% of our dive
days here in North Carolina. The remaining 40% is evenly
split between marginally miserable, miserable, and positively
perfect. A good rule of thumb is - the actual size of a swell
is 2/3 of what you think it is. What you think are 3's are
probably 2's. 6's are 4's, 8's are 5's, etc. This
caveat is to save you the embarassment of claiming you were diving in 8
foot seas in North Carolina to those of us who know better.
Right now somewhere in the Caribbean, there is absolutely some guy
saying
out loud to those around them, "Pffft.
I was too out diving in 8 foot seas in North Carolina!"

What
winds produce what seas,
you ask? Out of the Southwest, winds exceeding 15 knots
(about 17 mph) will create sea conditions in North Carolina that over
a few hours, build to the point of being undiveable. If
you're reading NOAA's Marine Forecast, and you see words like "light and variable"
or "winds 5 to 10 knots",
you're in for a wonderful "dead slick calm" day on the water.
Another common forecast in North Carolina is "Southwest winds 10 to 15 knots",
which is a lot like saying "50% chance of rain" in that you're being
provided with information, but in reality, the forecaster doesn't have
a clue about what to expect. Anything over 20 knots, go to
the cafe, buy yourself breakfast, and sip your coffee all
morning. While you're sure to be dissappointed that your dive
got "blown out", I can guarantee you that you'll be happier on land
than on the water that day.